Unofficial Manual for Zorin 18 Core Mk.II (based on r.3) - Bitstream Vera Sans editions in .docx and .pdf

[cc_spicuous]

What I personally marked as "highlight, worthwhile, notable". The documents appear to me more as a catalogue, or gallery, a pdf version of the software store than anything else.

Anmerkungen

(25.11.2025, 19:00:48)

„to connect to a private web page at your work to access servers.“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 52)

interesting topic, not understandable paragraph.

„Backups - this is the new name for Déjà Dup - guide on its use here: https://askmeaboutlinux.com/2022/10/27/deja-dup-for-backups-on-linux/ (Personally, it is just a lot simpler to create a folder on an external drive and copy the entire contents of your home folder into it“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 111)

Plenty of other options, the Arch Linux wiki is much more to the point.

„GNOME Tweaks (gnome-tweaks) –[formerly gnome-tweaktool]“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 198)

„Dconf Editor This is particularly useful for changing desktop settings. It’s layout reminds me of a registry editor,“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 206)

Eclectic, doesn't even mention pling.com or Windows themes.

„ClamTk not only installs the back-end of Clam AV“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 207)

Important.

„rkhunter looks at what the system looked like when it was installed and uses that as the base-line, so when kernels and other security updates get installed it compares the system with the earlier installs“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 208)

„http://rkhunter.sourceforge.net/ and why you should install it: http://resources.infosecinstitute.com/need-know-linux-rootkits/“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 208)

„Screen Reader (Orca)“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 210)

Voices?

„Stacer“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 220)

„MultiSystem: Probably the best USB MultiBoot System there is – yet another fantastic piece of French Software!“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 249)

„My Paint: get it from https://mypaint.org/downloads/“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 255)

„Screencast software. Vokoscreen-ng“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 262)

„Deluge (for Torrents)“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 263)
„GCDEmu https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdemu/files/?source=navbar This has proven very useful for creating and storing virtual CD Drives for Windows games as an example. Here is what you need to do: 1. Go to this page: https://www.unixmen.com/cdemu-virtual-cddvd-drive-linux/“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 265)

„virtmanager stands head and shoulders above Virtual Box any day.“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 267)

Doesn’t address the elephant in the room: Running Windows legacy software, running Android apps, Mac apps.

„K3b This is an alternative to Brasero, the default Zorin CD/DVD Burning“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 268)

„has a built in md5 checksum utility to verify the validity of downloaded .iso’s.“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 268)

„https://itsfoss.com/backup-restore-linux-timeshift/ If you ever run into difficulties at login time and you need to start the terminal in Advanced | Safe Recovery mode, the terminal commands to restore an image for Timeshift is: timeshift –restore“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 269)

„boot into advanced | recovery mode then from the recovery memory launch 'root' (terminal) then enter: mount -n -o remount,rw / then press Enter. passwd your_username then enter new password, shutdown and reboot. If this does not work, and if you have Timeshift installed then boot from live DVD/memory stick and point to where the snapshots are held and see if that works. If it doesn't try one of the following 3 options (acknowledgements to https://www.linuxslaves.com/2016/05/3-ways-fix-ubuntu-gets-stuck-loginloop.html? )“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 274)

„ocrmypdf“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 283)

„L.I.O.S (Linux Intelligent OCR Solution)“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 287)

Anmerkungen

(25.11.2025, 19:24:44)

„Freespire,“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 4)

„Linspire“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 4)

„Michael Robertson.“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 4)

Unneccessary, … blame game.

„For complete system backup my preferred paid for option is Acronis (for WindowsTM) (https://www.acronis.com/en-gb/personal/true-imagecomparison/), and best free option for simplicity of use, is rescuezilla (https://rescuezilla.com/).“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 5)

„rescuezilla has to be the same size of drive or bigger – it can not clone proportionally.“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 5)

„an update to the Motherboard’s BIOS“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 6)
„DO NOT use any Download Accelerator Managers“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 7)

A much better guide to installation and LIVE exploration is:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_FryhC19wu8 (Zorin OS 17 [Core]: Linux for Windows Users, 2024 @ January 15, 2025)

„80 Gb or 81920 Mib should be more than adequate.“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 11)

„the choice of making them an Adminstrator or a Standard User. When you add a Child to have access to the computer, you need to make them a Standard User. With Parental Controls, Children do not have access to the internet“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 64)

„Startup Applications“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 68)

„File Roller: This replaces what was previously named 'Archive Manager'“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 145)

„SoftMakerOffice 2024 Professional .deb file, then a useful utility is gdebi (gnome .deb installer).“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 242)

https://www.onlyoffice.com/download-desktop.aspx (‘ONLYOFFICE’, n.d. @ June 4, 2025), there are Chinese WPS, Korean Polaris, Latvian OnlyOffice, as alternatives to LibreOffice and the German SoftMaker.

[zabadabadoo]

Swarf. I have started reading (after some fun and games extracting the pdf from zip download). I have noticed a couple of minor typo's so far.
You can seek and destroy:

editiion

Windows​:trade_mark:

[swarfendor437]

If you use Okular there shouldn't be an issue.

[cc_spicuous]

Please, see update above.

[swarfendor437]

@cc_spicuous

What I personally marked as "highlight, worthwhile, notable". The documents appear to me more as a catalogue, or gallery, a pdf version of the software store than anything else.

Response: These are recommendations for Software that is available in Software and elsewhere. This is to save new users looking elsewhere for the applications, and can therefore appreciate they can access these via gnome-software (Software), which I personally loathe, but might be helpful as a starting point. I point out that Synaptic Package Manager is also recommended, as I also do gdebi

Anmerkungen

(25.11.2025, 19:00:48)

„to connect to a private web page at your work to access servers.“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 52)

interesting topic, not understandable paragraph.

„Backups - this is the new name for Déjà Dup - guide on its use here: How to use deja-dup for data backups on Linux – askmeaboutlinux (Personally, it is just a lot simpler to create a folder on an external drive and copy the entire contents of your home folder into it“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 111)

Plenty of other options, the Arch Linux wiki is much more to the point.

Response I do cover a mutlitude of options when it comes to backup, principally system backup using Rescuezilla and simply creating a new folder named /home on removable HDD and copying all content of /home into the new one. Timeshift is not really a backup solution as such but a snapshot of the system at any pre-determined time/number of snapshots in a given period. I could have course mentioned 'Back In Time', but it makes more sense to keep things KISS as much as possible for new users.

„GNOME Tweaks (gnome-tweaks) –[formerly gnome-tweaktool]“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 198)

?

„Dconf Editor This is particularly useful for changing desktop settings. It’s layout reminds me of a registry editor,“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 206)
?

Eclectic, doesn't even mention *pling.com or Windows themes.

Response *edited your incorrect hyperlink as you entered http and not https! There are creators on this forum who have had a very poor experience of Pling.com not passing on income for their hard work. It is one reason why I stopped uploading my free walls to Pling.com. I now only use DeviantArt.com and Unsplash.com. They also had an instance where they failed to check a theme called 'Ubundows' that wiped the contents of your drive!

„ClamTk not only installs the back-end of Clam AV“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 207)

Important.

„rkhunter looks at what the system looked like when it was installed and uses that as the base-line, so when kernels and other security updates get installed it compares the system with the earlier installs“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 208)

„http://rkhunter.sourceforge.net/ and why you should install it: http://resources.infosecinstitute.com/need-know-linux-rootkits/“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 208)

„Screen Reader (Orca)“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 210)

Voices?

Response Whilst it is possible to inject mbrola voices into the Windows open source app NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) i haven't tinkered with mbrola and Orca - whilst slightly robotic, I think I mentioned Victor being a good male voice available in Orca.

„Stacer“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 220)

„MultiSystem: Probably the best USB MultiBoot System there is – yet another fantastic piece of French Software!“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 249)

„My Paint: get it from https://mypaint.org/downloads/“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 255)

„Screencast software. Vokoscreen-ng“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 262)

„Deluge (for Torrents)“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 263)

„CDEmu CDemu - a virtual CD/DVD drive for Linux - Browse Files at SourceForge.net This has proven very useful for creating and storing virtual CD Drives for Windows games as an example. Here is what you need to do: 1. Go to this page: https://www.unixmen.com/cdemu-virtual-cddvd-drive-linux/“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 265)

„virtmanager stands head and shoulders above Virtual Box any day.“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 267)

Doesn’t address the elephant in the room: Running Windows legacy software, running Android apps, Mac apps.

Response Running Windows Legacy software is not intended to be included in the Scope of this Manual. It is there for new users to see and learn what is available in GNU/Linux. I don't have the resources (or time) to try out Legacy Software that I don't have a legal copy of! M personal preference would be to have Windows run as a VM in virt-manager which is what I did during lockdown, as I needed (unfortunately) to use Outlook for a shared mailbox, and Brailleblaster braille translation software as when moving from Feren OS to Devuan OS I could not get it to run the GNU/Linux version, so had to use Windows 7 Pro and upgraded to 8.1 Pro 32-bit VM. This in turn meant I had to source a 32-bit version of Okular (I found a Spanish version but the interface, thankfully for me, was in English once installed).

„K3b This is an alternative to Brasero, the default Zorin CD/DVD Burning“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 268)

„has a built in md5 checksum utility to verify the validity of downloaded .iso’s.“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 268)

„Guide to Backup and Restore Linux Systems with Timeshift If you ever run into difficulties at login time and you need to start the terminal in Advanced | Safe Recovery mode, the terminal commands to restore an image for Timeshift is: timeshift –restore“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 269)

„boot into advanced | recovery mode then from the recovery memory launch 'root' (terminal) then enter: mount -n -o remount,rw / then press Enter. passwd your_username then enter new password, shutdown and reboot. If this does not work, and if you have Timeshift installed then boot from live DVD/memory stick and point to where the snapshots are held and see if that works. If it doesn't try one of the following 3 options (acknowledgements to https://www.linuxslaves.com/2016/05/3-ways-fix-ubuntu-gets-stuck-loginloop.html? )“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 274)

„ocrmypdf“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 283)

„L.I.O.S (Linux Intelligent OCR Solution)“ (swarfendor437, 2024, p. 287)

Anmerkungen

(25.11.2025, 19:24:44)

„Freespire,“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 4)

„Linspire“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 4)

„Michael Robertson.“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 4)

Unneccessary, … blame game.

Response Not a blame game. It is what it was, perhaps you are unaware of the history of Linspire; having been a forum member of Freespire it was all laid bare in black and white by Kevin Carmony. It happened. When Freespire collapsed that is what led me to Zorin - it is a transitional perspective of trying to find an OS that resembled Windows and to promote it elsewhere.

„For complete system backup my preferred paid for option is Acronis (for WindowsTM) (https://www.acronis.com/en-gb/personal/true-imagecomparison/), and best free option for simplicity of use, is rescuezilla (https://rescuezilla.com/).“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 5)

„rescuezilla has to be the same size of drive or bigger – it can not clone proportionally.“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 5)

„an update to the Motherboard’s BIOS“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 6)
„DO NOT use any Download Accelerator Managers“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 7)

A much better guide to installation and LIVE exploration is:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_FryhC19wu8 (Zorin OS 17 [Core]: Linux for Windows Users, 2024 @ January 15, 2025)

Response This is a manual, not a YouTube Video! I have created dual-boot videos in the past, and I have done an installation video for Q40S.

„80 Gb or 81920 Mib should be more than adequate.“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 11)

„the choice of making them an Adminstrator or a Standard User. When you add a Child to have access to the computer, you need to make them a Standard User. With Parental Controls, Children do not have access to the internet“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 64)

„Startup Applications“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 68)

„File Roller: This replaces what was previously named 'Archive Manager'“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 145)

„SoftMakerOffice 2024 Professional .deb file, then a useful utility is gdebi (gnome .deb installer).“ (swarfendor437, 2025, p. 242)

ONLYOFFICE desktop and mobile apps | ONLYOFFICE (‘ONLYOFFICE’, n.d. @ June 4, 2025), there are Chinese WPS, Korean Polaris, Latvian OnlyOffice, as alternatives to LibreOffice and the German SoftMaker.

Response Whilst there are other alternatives, from personal experience I have found SoftMaker to be the most compatible suite for sharing with others who use MS Office. During Covid Lockdown I attempted to submit LibreOffice Writer documents and they did not come out right. I have used WPS Office in the past but it is closed source, and a Chinese user on their forum stated he was leaving it behind because of this fact. So SoftMaker Office is not Open Source but you can download a free version which works just as well. For me SoftMaker Office Professional improved my workflow tremendously and it has a better ribbon layout than MS and it also has the traditional layout as an option if you don't like the Ribbon. I hated the Ribbon in Office 2007. In SoftMaker's TextMaker I can delete a table completely - anything else is just a cut which means it is taking up memory on the clipboard!

Finally, I am not going to rewrite the Unofficial Manual for Zorin 17, the only change I would make is that I would recommend SimpleScreenRecorder over VokoscreenNG, because it relies on PulseAudio - I much prefer ALSA (even over Pipewire). I have placed questioin marks against applications you have quoted but not specifically stated what needs to be made clear if anything.
You should also note that I make it quite clear on the cover 'E. & O.E.' = Errors and Omissions Excepted !

[swarfendor437]

Thanks, corrected the first error, not clear on the second. I've uploaded the corrected version. The link remains the same as the pdf is in the folder the link refers to.

[cc_spicuous]

When I say "highlight" and "notable" and "worthwhile"—you appear to have read "questionable", this must be the stereotypical miscommunication between continental Germans and the British. I actually mean "highlight" and "worthwhile". Go ask an Austrian, this isn't a backhanded complaint.

What I find interesting, is up there. I thought, it's to the benefit of the author, because since when can an author see marginal notes of a reader?

[swarfendor437]

This is why languages are a barrier. Perhaps if we all created music communication, life would be a lot simpler (and enjoyable!)

[swarfendor437]

Bitstream Vera Sans version just uploaded - same link, just look for it in the folder. Again, have not dared look at the Contents page being updated. You have been warned! Because I have rearranged elements and hurriedly produced this manual, I have not done the usual painstaking task of denoting 'Headings 1' etc. to create a better hyperlinked Contents menu. Please be patient!

[cc_spicuous]

@swarfendor437

why languages are a barrier

Well, BBC comedy every week, or two, during the Brexit years, made clear to me, that I don't speak British English, when I believe to speak English, I understood most jokes, but translation-wise none of the comedy would be funny in German, and I'm in the former "sector" for the then British Forces Germany, where we believe to have some affinity.

[swarfendor437]

OK, spotted some monumental errors in the Mk.I edition of the Unofficial Manual for Zorin 18. I appear to have lost all my Text files so had to download the pdf version and I am slowly going through it, page at a time using Okular and then amending any errors. Mk.II edition will first be constructed using BitStream Vera Sans font (closest to Arial), which will be followed by a Mk.II Comic Relief version in due course.

[swarfendor437]

OK, completed the Menu elements of the Manual and have uploaded in .docx format here (removed 8.02.2026:

No contents and no page numbers for now.

22.02.2026 - a bit more done. Still no page numbers or contents page/s - will do this on completion.

[swarfendor437]

pdf and .docx file of Mk.II w.i.p. (work in progress) almost complete. Need to make changes to Power Settings - Presentation not present for me as using a VM!

Unofficial Manual for Zorin 18 Core r.3 Mk.II - w.i.p. no page numbers and no...

Removed obsolete hyperlinks where I had acknowledged some sources for the login loop, it has been taken over by a scam site so removed from the manual. Have checked all (A.F.A.I.K.) all hyperlinks and rectified with new ones.

Have departed slightly in the manual and posted Tech Rights links which makes some very interesting reading on UEFI.

I have deleted the Mk.I versions of the Manual as they were atrocious in terms of misplaced text over images, images in the wrong place. Please let me know anyone if there are any major issues. Many thanks.

[cursus]

New user of Zorin, found this site and this post. Great work, thanks !